Aroma hops favored by craft and specialty breweries are being planted more by farmers to keep up with the demand.

Craft and specialty beer brewers make up only 10 percent of the overall U.S. beer market but they are changing the type of hops being grown, according to Hop Growers of America.

The hops harvest is under way right now in the Pacific Northwest and more aroma-type hops are being grown than ever before, said Ann George, administrator with the Washington state-based Hop Growers of America. Craft and specialty brewers account for 20 percent of the hops sales, she said.

Hops are the dried seed cone that gives beer its bitter taste and aroma.

“We have started to see a shift in our varieties,” George said. “In the last five years we have seen a shift into the more flavorful varieties that are preferred by craft brewers.”

On tap through September at the hotel’s Ship Tavern, this craft beer is made by the Wynkoop Brewing Co. What makes it special is that it’s brewed with water from the hotel’s on-site artesian well. It’s a retro lager whose flavor is meant to reflect the beers first served at the Brown when it opened in 1892. The stuff goes for $8 a pint until it runs out, and is served in the Brown’s own logoed beer glasses.

Wynkoop Brewery and Elitch Gardens have teamed on two new craft beers, both named for the Denver theme park: Elitch Gardens Orchard Wheat and Elitch Gardens Fire Roasted Amber.

Both are available solely in downtown Denver, at the brewery and at the park’s Blue Moon Beer Garden.

“We put a lot of thought into these beers with the Elitch team,” said Andy Brown, Wynkoop’s head brewer. “Our collective goal was to create unique beers that were exciting to the park’s craft beer fans, but fitting for adventurous mainstream drinkers looking for thrills in the beer garden.”

The wheat is a 4.8 percent beer made with pale malt, malted wheat, German Saphir hops, kafir lime leaf and a dose of peach flavor. The amber is made with pale and crystal malt, US and UK hops, roasted Anaheim and ancho chiles, plus a dose of smoked serrano peppers.

The beers went on sale Tuesday at Wynkoop in LoDo, and will launch Saturday at 11 a.m. at Elitch Gardens.

Comments Off on Wynkoop Brewery, Elitch Gardens team on two new craft beers

Colorado is an undisputed center of American craft beer, with nearly 140 craft breweries. And more are in the works: A staggering 75 breweries are at various stages of planning – 15 in Denver alone. This is part of an occasional series on the new arrivals.

To anyone who has dreamed of opening a brewery, the vision discussed between friends over beers at a barbecue a couple years ago almost sounds too good to be true: a microbrewery specializing in high-end artisan beers, with almost all new equipment, in an outdoors heaven surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks.

On Saturday, those four friends will celebrate the grand opening of Elevation Beer Co. in Poncha Springs, just outside Salida. The 15-barrel brewhouse, in what used to be a shell of a warehouse, is focusing on, big barrel-aged and specialty beers, said co-founder Xandy Bustamante, national sales and distribution rep.

“I thought it would be cool to add recycled elements,” Willshire said.

Willshire, who works out of a spacious studio in her backyard, has enlisted local venues like Highland Tap and Burger and The Bluebird Theater to collect tens of thousands of bottle caps, which she carefully washes “to kill some of the beer funk” and sorts by color.

Head brewer Ro Guenzel talks a bit about the origins of Smokejumper, brewed in tribute to the men and women who travel the country dropping into rough terrain to aid fire firefighters, in a new promotional video.

Avery Brewing's last barrel room release of Muscat d'Amour and Recolte Sauvage. The brewery has announced it will release barrel-aged Uncle Jacob's Stout in April.

Turns out, Adam Avery’s “drinking problem” runs in the family.

A genealogy project revealed his great uncle six times over — Jacob Spears — was a distiller in Bourbon County, Kentucky circa 1790 and is widely credited with creating the “bourbon” appellation for the county’s whiskey.

“He had to start a distillery, and I had to start a brewery,” Avery says.

To honor his booze-loving ancestor and to mark the second release in the brewery’s annual barrel series, Avery announced Uncle Jacob’s Stout will debut April 7.

Like Superman emerging from that phone box you could have sworn Clark Kent just walked into, the Comic Con brew could be a new twist on something from Breck’s not-so-mild-mannered standard line up. Or, it could be something new, Eldridge said.

Once your faithful First Drafts correspondents recovered from our weekend trek to the 2012 Boulder Strong Ale Fest and compared notes, there was one beer that kept popping up at the tops of our “best of fest” lists: Surly Five.

As it turns out, the 500 or so attendees of the 10th annual fest hosted by Avery Brewing were lucky to get a taste of the 100 percent Brettanomyces-fermented sour that manages a fruity tang without the vinegar.

Surly’s head brewer Todd Haug says there aren’t plans to distribute outside of Minnesota for at least two years. In fact, the brewery had to pull out of Illinois, Wisconsin and the Dakotas after popular demand outstripped their production capacity.

Five was also brewed for Surly’s fifth anniversary, making it even more of a rarity.

Long-running video blog Beer America TV hopes to catch a network’s eye with the help of a Boulder-based production company and an assist from Colorado’s own Oskar Blues.

As we speak (write?), Boulder’s Warren Miller Entertainment is pitching networks on a series that would profile a craft brewery from each U.S. region and follow them as they vie for the gold at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival in Denver. And among the first batch of brewers would be can kings Oskar Blues, featured in the somewhat salty promo reel above.

Success for the show could mean higher profiles for Colorado beer, said Ginger Tatic of Warren Miller.

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!